Former Conservative tradition secretary Nadine Dorries has develop into the most recent high-profile defection to Reform UK.
Boris Johnson loyalist Ms Dorries, who resigned from the Home of Commons in 2023, stated she made the choice as a result of her former social gathering was now “dead”.
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Writing within the Every day Mail, she stated: “The time for action is now and I believe that the only politician who has the answers, the knowledge and the will to deliver is Nigel Farage.”
She went on to say it was “time for change” and “time make Britain great again”.
“My decision to leave the party I’ve served for more than 30 years is possibly the most difficult I’ve ever had to make, and it has taken me 12 agonising months to reach.”
The transfer will bolster Reform UK because it prepares to host its convention in Birmingham on Friday and Saturday.
Ms Dorries follows Sir Jake Berry, a former Tory Celebration chairman, in becoming a member of Mr Farage’s social gathering.
Tom Pursglove, a former Conservative minister, stated he’s was stunned to see the defection.
He instructed Sophy Ridge on the Politics Hub: “Nadine has been quite unhappy for a long period of time. Obviously she left parliament before the end of the term, so this doesn’t really surprise me.
“I hate seeing Conservative colleagues leaving the Conservative fold. It pains me once I see somebody I respect and admire and really I might contemplate Nadine to be a good friend.”
He added: “That does not change now as a result of she’s in one other social gathering – however I hate seeing this, it is horrible.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “We want Nadine properly.”
A Labour Party spokesperson added: “Nadine Dorries says the Tory Celebration is lifeless – as one of many individuals who helped to kill it, she ought to know.
“She backed Boris Johnson through thick and thin despite the partying in Downing Street during the pandemic while people couldn’t see their loved ones. And now she wants to help unleash the same chaos the Tories inflicted on Britain by joining Nigel Farage’s Reform.”
They added: “Nadine Dorries has gone on quite a political journey – from being the minister who introduced the Online Safety Bill to joining a party that wants to scrap it without having any idea how to replace its protections for children and adults.
“It is an ideal illustration of how incoherent Reform are – all anger, no solutions, with contradictions constructing by the day.”
A Liberal Democrat source said: “We do not know who to really feel extra sorry for, Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage.”
